Man loses appeal against kidnap, assault and robbery of woman

Russian and his accomplice befriended a Ukrainian woman, before assaulting her and stealing her money and passport.

DUBAI // A Russian jailed with a compatriot for kidnapping a woman, trying to strangle her with her own hair and robbing her has lost his appeal against his two-year sentence.

The jobless men, aged 30 and 34, were convicted in June by the Dubai Criminal Court of kidnap, physical assault and robbery charges. Only one of them appealed his two-year sentence at Dubai Court of Appeal.

On January 13 the pair offered to take the woman home but instead took her to Ajman and assaulted her on the way.

The Ukrainian victim, 49, said she was visiting the country when she met one of her attackers in Bur Dubai after he asked if she knew of any good shops where he could buy clothes for his wife.

“He figured I was Ukrainian and started chatting in Russian and told me he was also a tourist,” said the woman. She said he asked her where she lived and offered her a lift.

“He was very nice and being from Russia I felt safe and got in, but he had a friend in the car,” said the victim.

When they drove past her home in Al Riffa, she told them to stop, after which one of them slapped her then choked her with her own hair.

The pair then took her bag and demanded she pay them Dh5,000 if she wanted her passport back.

“They gave me a piece of paper with an email address written on it and said that I should contact them on that email regarding the payment to get my passport back,” said the woman, who was then thrown out of the car.

She stopped another car and told its Emirati driver what happened. He drove her home, after which she called police.

An Emirati policeman, 28, testified that the men were arrested at their home in Ajman and confessed during police questioning. “We found several passports for unknown women with them,” said the officer.

Both men denied all charges in court in April but they were found guilty and will be deported after serving their jail terms.